Rio bomb squad blows up backpack near cycling course: official

A police bomb squad inspect an unattended backpack that they exploded near the end of the Rio Olympics cycling course in Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 6, 2016.Scott Malone

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - An anti-bomb squad at the Olympic Games in Rio de detonated an unattended backpack near the end of the cycling course on Saturday, a spokeswoman for the public security department said.

Officials expect the bag may have belonged to a homeless man, but protocol requires any unattended objects to be destroyed, she said. The controlled blast occurred at 1:45 p.m. (12:45 p.m. EDT), the spokeswoman said.